Chapter 257: Doubt About Kaelos?

Daniel quickly closed the rest of the description panels, leaving open only the three skills that had caught his attention.

[Meteors Of Corruption (S)]: The user can summon meteors made of Corruption to attack enemies, descending like falling stars. The number summoned depends on the user’s power.

[Mother Crown (SS)]: You can form a crown made of a Corruption aura and place it on your head. With the crown, you can take control of weaker Corruption beasts.

[Weave Of Corruption (SSS)]: ???

His eyes glimmered slightly in surprise. The first two skills were really good—especially Mother Crown, which would allow him to control Corruption beasts. That, by itself, was beyond incredible.

With a skill like that, he could practically build another army. He could clear out Dungeons, or even venture into the Celestial Domain, where countless Corruption beasts roamed, and simply control them all before killing them with ease.

This way, he could gain an absurd amount of EXP, like it was nothing. And that was just part of what Mother’s Crown could do.

As for Meteors Of Corruption, it was an offensive skill, somewhat similar to Crimson Judgment, which made him hesitant to copy it.

After all, he already had plenty of similar abilities. Copying this one would just be a waste.

And then there was Weave Of Corruption. There was no description for it at all—but it was an SSS-rank skill.

The rank alone made him want to copy it, but with zero details, how was he supposed to know how to use it? What was it even for? Besides, Mother Crown was so good that he didn’t want to take the risk.

But his instincts told him to copy Weave Of Corruption. He didn’t know why, but his instincts had never failed him so far.

In the end, he let out a breath and tapped the skill-copy option he felt was the right choice.

After that, he closed the panels and cleared his mind. Kaelos’s face surfaced in his thoughts.

He didn’t know the true extent of S-rank power, but he was certain an S-rank shouldn’t be able to sever his link with the Fallen, erase God’s Blood, or even block the Mother System from sending notifications to him.

So how had Kaelos done it? The first thought that crossed Daniel’s mind was that the man was hiding his true strength.

Maybe he had already reached national-level Awakening long ago and was simply concealing it. But that didn’t make sense either.

Daniel knew very well how strict the Guardian Council was about national-level Awakeneds. They would never allow one to hide their real power.

On top of that, Daniel was familiar with the strength of demigods. Unless Kaelos was a demigod, there was no way he could conceal himself from them.

Then Daniel considered a second possibility—Kaelos might be using some kind of item or treasure that gave him such power. But what kind of item could possibly be this powerful? And how would he even get it?

Maybe he had earned it as a reward for clearing one of the Tower’s floors and had been keeping it hidden, just like August had done.

Even so, there were still far too many questions. Why would Kaelos use it now, risking exposure? It didn’t add up.

After all, demigods were beings who could essentially watch the entire world. There was no way they wouldn’t notice such an item.

And yet, Kaelos had taken that risk, and the demigods seemed to ignore him. Why? Could there have been some secret deal between them?

"Ugh... this is more confusing than I thought," Daniel muttered, feeling a headache coming on.

He really wanted to just ignore all this and not think about it, but that wasn’t an option. Soon, he’d have to fight that bastard, and he needed to gather as much information as possible.

Knowing your enemy was crucial.

And besides, if such an item truly existed, things could become very bad for him. An item strong enough to do things only demigods should be able to do... he doubted anyone would dare oppose the person holding it.

Which meant he’d be completely on his own. Nobody would help him. He couldn’t even be sure if Everlight Moon Guild would back him up.

Sure, there was also the Fallen Sun Guild, but he didn’t even consider them. They weren’t strong enough to stand against Cironblade Guild.

He exhaled. If the worst came to pass, his only chance would be the Fallen Will skill... Though, back in his fight with the Noble Demon, his instincts had warned him not to use it, saying he’d desperately need it soon.

But he had ignored that instinct, and now he was paying the price. If Fallen Will were still available, he’d have the confidence to face Kaelos alone.

Now, however, he’d have to wait a month for the skill to be usable again.

Daniel let out another deep breath and pushed those thoughts aside. He’d just have to wait and see whether they would help him or not. If not, he’d come up with another plan.

His consciousness sank into his Spiritual Sea. He looked around and immediately noticed that the place had expanded even further.

His Fallen were resting quietly. Then his gaze shifted upward, to the three orbs floating high in the sky.

Each orb was cracked, clearly a result of how much he had pushed them.

Still, they would return to normal soon enough. The Self Transcendent skill was an incredible help, though it came with a serious drawback.

"Maybe if I work on it a bit, I can increase how much power I can draw from it," he muttered.

In essence, Self Transcendent borrowed strength from his past and future selves, but only as much as his body could withstand.

Meaning, the stronger his body and soul became, the more power he could channel. Eventually, he might even be able to draw enough to stand against S-ranks.

"In theory, it’s possible... but it won’t be easy. For now, I can probably hold my ground against peak A-ranks using Self Transcendent, but S-rank? That’s not happening anytime soon." Daniel sighed.

Still, the thought gave him a few ideas, and he was determined to experiment and make it work.

Finally, his eyes fell on the Tablet of Death and the Flower Of Eternity—the real reason he had entered his Spiritual Sea.